FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT COALITION GOVERNMENT - PAGE 2

ATHENS (Reuters) - One small Greek party pledged its support on Tuesday to the Left Coalition's effort to form an anti-bailout coalition government after Sunday's inconclusive election. "I told him that if he wants he can go ahead with a government of leftist parties, with the support of the Democratic Left," party leader Fotis Kouvelis said after meeting Left Coalition leader Alexis Tsipras. Tsipras was given a mandate on Tuesday to form a government after his party came second in Sunday's election.

ATHENS (Reuters) - The leader of Greece's winning conservative New Democracy party said on Monday the country needed as broad a coalition government as possible, after radical leftist SYRIZA refused to join. "We need a national salvation government with as many parties as possible," Antonis Samaras told reporters after meeting SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras. (Reporting by Greg Roumeliotis; Writing by Matt Robinson)

Conservative challenger Angela Merkel won overwhelming backing from her party Tuesday ahead of talks with Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrats about a coalition government. Schroeder, apparently showing new flexibility, said all sides should drop "preconditions." German voters ousted Schroeder's government Sunday but did not give Merkel a parliamentary majority. Both Schroeder and Merkel claim a mandate to be the next chancellor, a dispute to be settled in coalition talks beginning Thursday.

ATHENS, May 7 (Reuters) - Greek President Karolos Papoulias will meet conservative party leader Antonis Samaras later on Monday to ask him to try and form a coalition government. Papoulias will meet Samaras, whose party came first in an inconclusive election on Sunday, at 1200 GMT, a statement from the presidency said. Papoulias will also meet outgoing Prime Minister Lucas Papademos at 1100 GMT. Samaras faces a tough task forming a durable government as pro-bailout parties failed to get a majority of seats in the election.

President Ernesto Samper acknowledged Friday that he is consulting with prominent figures about possibly leaving office early to end a political crisis stemming from allegations that he used drug money to win office. Samper said he's considering early elections, a referendum to decide his fate or a coalition government, all options he has suggested before. He would not be allowed to enter the elections. Samper ruled out resignation as an alternative. His term is supposed to end in 1998.

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek socialist leader Evangelos Venizelos called on Tuesday for all the country's pro-European parties to team up and form a coalition government to avoid a second round of elections. "I call on all Greek citizens to support our ... proposal for a national unity government consisting of all forces wanting Greece in Europe and in the euro," Venizelos said. (Reporting by Renee Maltezou, editing by Mike Peacock)

YEREVAN, May 6 (Reuters) - Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan's Republican Party is on course to win Sunday's parliamentary election, an exit poll showed after voting ended in the South Caucasus country. The exit poll by the Gallup International Association showed Prosperous Armenia, the Republican Party's partner in the previous coalition government, was set to finish second. It put the Republican Party on 44.44 percent, and Prosperous Armenia on 28.81 percent.

(Reuters) - Greek Conservative leader Antonis Samaras on Wednesday rejected joining a coalition government led by leftist leader Alexis Tsipras, who opposes the country's international bailout. "Mr. Tsipras... asks me to accept Greece's exit from the euro and the country's bankruptcy. This is something I will not do," Samaras said after meeting Tsipras, the head of the Left Coalition party. The widely expected decision by Samaras followed refusal by the other mainstream party, Socialist PASOK, to join a coalition led by Tsipras and makes a second Greek election likely within weeks.

ATHENS (Reuters) - A lawmaker of the small Democratic Left party said on Friday his party should stay in the coalition government of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, showing the Democratic Left is split over the question ahead of a key meeting later on Friday. "We must stay in government," lawmaker Vassilis Oikonomou said on private television station Mega. "We should finish the effort we have started (by entering the government)," he added. (Reporting by Harry Papachristou)